The children burst in through the door
Slamming the gate against the wall
They roll into the small cracks
and spread out across the floor
My first husband hides beneath
The shaking wooden boards
Where he has hidden since the day Zeus came
I was a maiden then with the sun on my thighs
My long hair blindly reflected the sky
I could no more resist the king of heaven
That resist the gravity holding me down
He took me in a corn field, beside a hard brick well
My first love was still cooling on my lips
I watched the water bucket resting on the edge of stone
While he told me I was his and his alone
My belly swelled soon after – my husband thought them his
Until they sped to their conclusion and his gaze grew hard and chilled
We were but poor farmers with no knowledge of God
So he forgave his pride and loved me still
But Zeus soon came a’knocking as gods are wont to do
The night his demi-gods burst from my womb
A warm light and they left us with a promise to return
And we held each other, trembling in the newly empty room
Once a year they visit with devotion in their eyes
These strange, beautiful things that call me mother
I mark the date with caution, and ask my love to hide
To avoid the gaze of these ferocious others
Their very steps can set the earth to tremble
But I love them and with a mother’s love receive
The miracles they cast for my approval
While I watch the floors and wait for them to leave
Lisa Rodrigues 